ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2 1
Strategic Initiatives Funding Program
Table of Contents 3 Message from the Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives
4 About the Strategic Initiatives Funding Program 4 Award Process 5 2018-19: Cohort 3 —— Strategic Initiatives Awardees Update Operational Excellence Development Program Department Chair Leadership Development Program Launch of the USD Military Hub Urgent Challenges Collective - Homelessness and Food Insecurity USD Rome Center University of San Diego’s Tijuana Hub and Classroom Co-creating the Future of Faith: The Role of Women in the Catholic Church
9 2019-20: Cohort 4 —— Strategic Initiatives Awardees Update Environmental Integration Lab Equinox Project at USD Food Studies Initiative at USD National Fellowships The Mixtec Community Garden: Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing The PAX Initiative (USD Stopping Traffic Initiative) USD’s Goal Toward an International/Multicultural Experience for all Undergraduate Students
14 2020-21: Cohort 5 —— New Strategic Initiative Awardees Torero Gateway: Expanding Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities Advancing Educational Equity: Enhancing Retention and Graduation Rates for USD’s Black Undergraduate Students The Water Justice Exchange: Fostering Synergistic Research, Teaching and Solutions for Local Water Challenges Committee and Implementation of College Diversity and Inclusion Mid-Career and Junior Faculty Service Awards Cross-Campus Racial Equity Advocates Program Developing a Mentoring Program for Supporting Success and Retention of a Diverse Faculty Anchor Entrepreneurship: Combining Inclusion, Diversity, and Food and Beverage Innovation for Our Common Home Design Thinking Studio
18 Strategic Planning Steering Committee Roster 19 Mission, Vision and Core Values
Message from the Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives Dear Campus Community, I am pleased to share with you the Strategic Initiatives Annual Report for 2020-21. In 2016, under the leadership of President James T. Harris III, and with the support of the Board of Trustees, USD launched its strategic plan, called, Envisioning 2024. To support the implementation of this ambitious plan, President Harris created the Division of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives (IESI). In this role, IESI oversees the administration of the Strategic Initiatives Fund, which is used to pilot project proposals from USD students, faculty members and staff that align with the five goals and/or six pathways of the strategic plan. This funding stream is outside of USD’s normal budgeting process and so opens the door to the ideas of our students, faculty members and staff to realize areas they are passionate about and build upon their expertise to further USD’s strategic vision. The purpose of the fund is to jump-start, but not permanently fund, initiatives for a two-year period. The university has $500,000 to grant per award cycle (thus, $250,000 per year) for all initiatives. The maximum award one initiative can receive is $200,000 (thus, $100,000 per year). Successful projects then have the opportunity to be permanently funded through the university’s budget or through external resources such as grants and donations. Strategic initiative proposals are solicited annually and are evaluated by university-wide committees composed of students, faculty members and staff. The committees evaluate and score proposals based upon their support of USD’s strategic goals, multidisciplinary focus, feasibility, and impact. Thus far, there have been five cohorts of strategic initiative awardees. For proposals that occurred this year, the committees were particularly interested in proposals for initiatives that focused on countering anti-Black racism, specifically, and racial injustice more generally while incorporating one or more of the following identified urgent challenges of today: homelessness, cross-border engagement, food justice, environmental justice, human trafficking, and/or educational equity. You may read about these newly funded initiatives as part of the Cohort 5 section within this report. Over the past four years, USD has provided nearly $1.8 million to fund 38 pilot projects. In May 2021, we celebrated the work of these projects via Zoom during our Second Annual Summit: Confronting Humanity’s Urgent Challenges. IESI, together with the campus community, looks forward a time when we can celebrate the work of all awardees in an in-person environment (postpandemic). The Strategic Initiatives Annual Report for 2020-21 describes all projects currently receiving funding (Cohorts 3-4) and projects whose funds will soon commence (Cohort 5). Cohorts 1-2 initiatives can be found in prior annual reports. It is my sincere hope that you find these projects exciting and that they help you to better understand our efforts in achieving our vision for 2024: The University of San Diego will set the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. Thank you and be well,
Andrew T. Allen, PhD Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2019-20 2020-21
|
3
About the Strategic Initiatives Funding Program Inspired by faith, informed by our core mission and values, and dedicated to the ongoing legacy of our founders, the University of San Diego’s strategic plan envisions a more distinctive identity among the most respected Catholic universities in the world. USD’s vision (adopted September 25, 2016) is to set the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. The current strategic plan was created in 2016 to help the university realize its vision by 2024, the year of USD’s 75th anniversary. The strategic plan was thus coined Envisioning 2024. As part of the Envisioning 2024 strategic plan, USD wants to create an environment that fosters and rewards creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. From this, the strategic initiative funding program was born beginning in the 2017-18 academic year. Since then,
Goal 1: Enhancing Student Learning and Success Goal 2: Strengthening Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Goal 3: Improving Structural and Operational Effectiveness Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff Engagement Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
The purpose of the fund is to jump-start, but not necessarily
permanently fund, initiatives for a two-year time frame. Awards are divided into four monetary categories: a) less than $25,000; b) $25,000$49,999; c) $50,000-$74,999; and d) $75,000 or more. The bar chart indicates the monetary categories awarded for Cohorts 1-5. Monetary Award Categories—— Cohorts 1-5 13 12 11 10 9 8
five cohorts of initiatives have been awarded funds. Below serves as a
7
summary of the amount of awards funded from the program thus far:
6
Year
4
# of Pre- Proposals
# of Full Proposals
# of Awards
USD Funding (2-year period)
5 3
2017-2018 92 (Cohorts 1 and 2)
38
15 $500,000
2
2018-2019 31 (Cohort 3)
18
8
$410,000
0
2019-20 (Cohort 4)
22
7
$375,000
2020-2021 20 (Cohort 5)
11
8
$474,000
TOTAL
89
38 $1,759,000
33
176
The funding program supports teams or individual faculty members, staff, students, or administrators as they pilot innovative initiatives in support of USD’s five strategic goals, as listed below. The bar chart indicates where the initiatives (thus far in Cohorts 1-5) indicate primary goal alignment.
1
Category A
Category B
Category C
Award Process Those who wish to apply for Strategic Initiative Funding must complete the following steps. Step 1. Develop an idea that presents an innovative approach to confronting a problem or opportunity that supports USD’s strategic goals and pathways. Step 2. Submit a pre-proposal by December of the academic year. A Strategic Goal Committee (SGC), a subcommittee of the Strategic
Main Alignment to Strategic Plan Goals —— Cohorts 1-5
Planning Steering Committee (SPSC), will review the pre-proposal using a
22
set of criteria and provide feedback. When a pre-proposal is accepted, it
20
moves to the next step; otherwise, the proposer is notified of the criteria
18
that were not met and advised whether a variation of the proposal
16 14
should be submitted for the next cycle.
12
Step 3. Submit a full proposal. Components of this include:
10
Proposal title, contact person and email, name of affiliated dean or
8
vice president
6
Description of problem or opportunity that supports USD’s strategic
4 2
0
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
goals and pathways
Goal 5
Innovative approach of confronting a problem or opportunity Integration, showcasing a cross-campus collaborative effort of stakeholders
4
Category D
|
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
Impact to unit, combination of units, institution, and/or community Indications of success Budget Required resources, including those that are existing or new Feasibility, achievability, and measurability Sustainability, the potential to become financially sustainable if the
focused on improving process effectiveness across campus operations.
Direct benefits to the university Outcomes, action steps, measures, benchmarks/criteria, and targeted
car rental/car mileage program delivered an estimated $60,000 cost
project is expected to continue beyond the funding period
start dates and completion dates
Step 4. The full proposal is reviewed by the Strategic Initiative Review Council (SIRC), another subcommittee of the SPSC, and the full SPSC with utilization of a scoring rubric. Recommendations by these bodies are provided to the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), which prioritizes proposals for funding. The president makes the final decision regarding which proposals to fund during May of each year. Step 5. Once funding is approved, the proposer will establish an assessment plan with major outcomes/indications of success. After this happens, implementation may begin. Progress will be documented along the way and reported in a summary format in the Strategic Initiatives Annual Report.
The Awardees
This year's annual report describes all initiatives currently receiving funding (Cohorts 3-4) and initiatives whose funds will soon commence (Cohort 5). Initiatives from Cohorts 1-2 can be found in prior annual reports.
2018-19: Cohort 3 Strategic Initiatives Awardees Update (projects that received funding for FY 2020 and FY 2021)
Strategic Initiative: Operational Excellence Development Program
It will be called Operational Excellence Academy. The program will employ project-based learning for operational staff, supervisors, managers, and executives and provide certification for successful participants. Major Successes in 2020-21: All program materials were developed and utilized in the academy. A pilot project (Concur travel implementation) was initiated and one was completed (car rental/car mileage). The avoidance by diverting employees toward vehicle rental for journeys in excess of 80 miles per day. Another project tied to custodial services was initiated during COVID, and we are awaiting numerical results. The pandemic had a profound impact on our work, especially the remote work policy, which removed most travel, but required advanced protocols for facilities cleaning. It is very clear that USD has a significant need for this program to improve process efficiency and especially internal user service experiences. We see a need for top management support and involvement going forward to facilitate significant improvements across campus operations and administration. We have the majority of materials available for hybrid delivery of the academy post-COVID. The evaluation of the academy itself was delayed due to COVID, but will take place in Spring 2022.
Strategic Initiative: Department Chair Leadership Development Program Project Contact(s): Lorri Sulpizio, PhD, Executive Director, Conscious Leadership Academy Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff Engagement Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999 About: This initiative seeks to create a Department Chair Leadership Program (DCLP) at USD to serve department chairs and other faculty interested in developing as leaders, and to aid the transition from faculty to administration. The DCLP will help USD engage and develop faculty members into leaders, creating a positive campus environment and filtering down to student learning. The program will also develop campus
Project Contact(s): Simon Croom, PhD, Professor of Operations and
leaders who value and promote diversity and inclusion.
Supply Chain Management, School of Business; Bradley Chase, PhD,
Major Successes in 2020-21: We completed all milestones this year and
Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of
launched a very successful department chair program. The pandemic
Engineering; and Leonard Perry, PhD, Associate Professor, Industrial
highlighted a need for leadership with new skills: skills such as leading
Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering
in uncertainty; supporting people in times of complexity and chaos; and
Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 3: Improving Structural and
making hard decisions with little information. The DCLP program pivoted
Operational Effectiveness Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999 About: This initiative seeks to build on the existing expertise in the School of Business and the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering to develop an accessible professional development program for USD employees
in both design and format, which resulted in a robust and engaging online training. Nine USD department chairs participated in the three-day intensive program. The participants engaged in deep personal learning about their own leadership strengths and liabilities, and explored how to take up critical issues, such as resolving conflict among faculty members
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
5
and working with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The design team is currently creating the next iteration of this leadership program and is looking forward to launching another cohort at the end of 2021 and one in early 2022. The pilot program was very successful. We did both formal evaluations and survey reflections and heard from administrators that the participants gained valuable learning. Participants gave us feedback on what worked and also suggested some adjustments for the future. While we had some significant obstacles due to the pandemic, the participants seemed to get very much out of the program. It was encouraging to see their growth and we continue to be motivated about creating a lasting DCLP for USD leaders.
Strategic Initiative: Launch of the USD Military “Hub” Project Contact(s): Amanda Etter, Director, Military and Veterans Programs Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999 About: This initiative seeks to establish a USD Military Hub to will address the needs of the military community and deepen the work of various entities around campus. It will open the door for stronger military outreach and community partnerships through the development of united campus efforts to educate the military population on higher education opportunities.
funding, the hub built partnerships with community organizations such as the San Diego Coast Guard City Committee and the San Diego Chamber of Commerce Committee for Veterans and Military Affairs, created data collection processes, and began membership in elite military and veteran organizations. In Phase 3 of its funding, the hub marketed and branded itself via an online presence and also secured increased scholarships for students. In Phase 4, it hopes to focus on campus connections to
Major Successes in 2020-21: In Phase 1 of its funding, hub leaders
support student growth and retention as the military-connected student
created an advisory board, hired a faculty expert to organize its efforts,
enrollment population has grown by 45% over the last five years (Fall
and created mission, vision, and goal statements. In Phase 2 of its
2015-Fall 2020).
6 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
Strategic Initiative: Urgent Challenges Collective —— Homelessness and Food Insecurity
in these classes alone. The course, INST 352 Understanding the
Project Contact(s): Mike Williams, PhD, JD, Director, Changemaker
course also included an innovative Community Fellows Program, which
Hub and Professor, Political Science and International Relations; Kate DeConinck, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Theology and Religious Studies Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation Monetary Award Category: d) $75,000 or more About: This initiative seeks to establish an Urgent Challenges Collective, creating new opportunities for faculty members, students, staff, and community partners to become more engaged in addressing the issues of homelessness and food insecurity. Specifically, over the next two years, the Urgent Challenges Collective will work to coordinate USD’s efforts and create new initiatives (where necessary) to build upon our
Homelessness Crisis, was offered for the first time during Fall 2021. This invited legal advocates, case workers, and those with lived experience of homelessness to be part of the class for the semester. Despite the challenges of COVID-19 during this academic year, the collective also hosted events — 14 in total. Through these events and workshops, the collective engaged a total of 361 students, faculty members, and staff and 18 community partners. Those surveyed indicated they learned from the event, were inspired, and would like to get more involved.
Strategic Initiative: USD Rome Center Project Contact(s): Denise Dimon, PhD, Associate Provost for International Affairs, Professor of Economics, School of Business Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
knowledge of these issues (engaged research and interdisciplinary
Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999
courses), to support community partners who are engaged with
About: This initiative sought to expand USD’s global footprint by
these issues (community engagement), and to advocate and spread awareness about homelessness and food insecurity issues on and off campus (advocacy).
establishing a USD Rome Center in Italy. The university currently has several programs in Italy that could be enhanced by a permanent USD presence in Rome. In addition, such a center would allow the opportunity
Major Successes in 2020-21: Much progress was made on engaged
to develop new initiatives in a city strongly linked to USD's Catholic
research year. The collective solicited requests regarding research
identity.
projects for round two, and the collective received more than 100
Major Successes in 2020-21: USD’s current Madrid Center serves as a hub
applications for 15 student researchers. The engaged research projects included USD faculty and students as well as five community partners and five community consultants. Five pilot engaged research projects
to connect with USD’s European partners and alumni. In 2018, USD began the process of establishing a similar USD Rome Center that will provide
were funded and they will be published on the collective’s website as well as presentations will be made. In addition, each of the community partners reported that they would like these pilot projects to continue in AY 2021-22. Round-one recipients produced reports on stigmatization, affordable housing, and community assessment and engagement, and these papers were presented at a total of four conferences from December through March. The collective also made great progress on the development of interdisciplinary courses. During the Fall 2020 semester, the collective partnered with the Changemaker Hub to craft the Changemaker Challenge, an annual design-thinking competition that aligns with the theme of homelessness. The collective collaborated with two community partners, Think Dignity and PATH, to frame two or three core problems that each organization was facing, and created short briefs inviting students and faculty members to devise meaningful solutions to those problems. All faculty members were invited to integrate the Changemaker Challenge into their fall classes and five instructors received grants to do so. Also this year, the collective team assisted seven faculty members across different units at USD in creating and implementing modules and assignments related to homelessness. As a result of the course development grant program, a total of 201
space for teaching, research, and activities in a city that is strongly linked to USD’s Catholic identity: Rome, Italy. In 2019, an exploratory trip to Rome was made to connect with some USD partners, alumni, and friends to share the vision of a USD Rome Center, investigate some potential sites, and begin the legal process for USD to have a physical presence in Rome. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the progress for site selection, but the goal is to have a location in place by 2024.
students gained meaningful exposure to the issue of homelessness Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
7
some opportunities that weren’t initially part of our project’s scope. It has provided a tremendous challenge for the inclusion efforts due to the digital divide especially experienced in communities USD is engaged with in Tijuana, but there have also been some new cross-border virtual classes that we may not have pursued had we not had the constraints from the global pandemic. Once the hub is opened and utilized, we will track some of the measures regarding usage.
Strategic Initiative: Co-creating the Future of Faith: The Role of Women in the Catholic Church) Project Contact(s): Jeffrey Burns, Director, Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
Strategic Initiative: University of San Diego's Tijuana Hub and Classroom Project Contact(s): Rachel Christensen, Assistant Director, Center for Peace and Commerce Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999 About: This initiative seeks to support a sequence of three events to open the dialogue with female members of the Catholic community whose voices have long been neglected; engage high school youth in the process; and craft a message that can be shared with the diocese and beyond. The objective is to create tangible artifacts and recommendations
Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999
for the future to increase the role of women in the Catholic church.
About: The first stage of this initiative seeks to map the current USD
Major Successes in 2020-21: Due to COVID, our final event was held via
footprint in Tijuana using the collaboratory tool, which produces reports
zoom on November 16, 2020. Sixty people were in attendance. Special
on student, faculty, and staff efforts in specific regions or across
attention was paid to the role of women in the Church. Several specific
identifying themes. The second stage of this initiative will identify and
recommendations were approved and a report was created. A survey
pilot the use of a physical presence in Tijuana, Mexico. A co-located
was conducted that received 22 (36%) responses. While the number of
physical space accessible from the San Ysidro ports of entry would
responses was disappointing, the results indicate an overwhelmingly
act as a Hub for Tijuana-based USD activities and serve a myriad of
positive response to the event. An additional event was sponsored in April
USD stakeholders’ needs as a meeting space, location for interviews,
2021. Noted theologian Dr. Phyllis Zagano spoke on “Women Deacons? The
research center, art studio, temporary locker and storage unit, and
State of the Question.” We have prepared a report that we are planning to
space for collaboration with community partners.
submit to Bishop Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego. We hope to
Major Successes in 2020-21: This year, we facilitated mapping sessions
assist in the enactment of our recommendations.
to document USD’s footprint in Tijuana through input from various cross campus stakeholder groups; gathered statistics on USD’s work in Tijuana and on the border; and created a document of reference for USD’s current work in Tijuana and placed it online in a central location. The map of USD’s current work has been very helpful to inform the rest of this project. Next, we need to determine a needs analysis and define criteria for the hub. We did what we could virtually and without being able to cross the border. We have postponed the identification of a space and placement of a MICAH fellow due to university guidelines on border crossing. However, we have negotiated some free use of space for the meantime with community partners to be ready for when in person gatherings and cross border student or faculty engagement is possible beyond the current virtual modalities. COVID-19 has provided
8 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
2019-20: Cohort 4 Strategic Initiative Awardees Update (projects that received funds for FY 2021 and will receive funds for FY 2022) Strategic Initiative: Environmental Integration Lab Project Contact(s): Nichole Wissman-Weber, PhD, Assistant Professor of Management and Julia Cantzler, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 1: Enhancing Student Learning and Success Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999
and staff representing a diverse array of academic departments and organizations on campus. The Steering Committee met four times over the course of the year (twice in each semester). During those meetings, the Steering Committee focused on the following tasks: developing and honing the EIL’s mission statement and strategic pathways, planning Spring 2021 programming, brainstorming collaboration around the Equinox Project’s Quality of Life Dashboard, the new Master’s Program in Engineering for Sustainability and Health, discussing possibilities for curricular innovation including a pop-up class on climate change/ sustainability, communities of practice around topical areas, and “making climate a class.” The Steering Committee also discussed long-term strategic planning, including the possibility of developing a minor and constructing a campus-wide survey to assess environmental
About: The initiative seeks to create an Environmental Integration Lab
knowledge and attitudes. We are thrilled by the composition of our
(EIL) that will bring together faculty and students in a concerted effort
Steering Committee and the unique expertise and community networks
to connect campus-wide sustainability endeavors as it relates to
that they bring to the table. Due to COVID, we delayed hiring student
climate change. The University of San Diego has a variety of experts on
assistants until January 2021. Three students were ultimately hired, and
environmental science, real estate sustainability, sustainable supply
their primary tasks have been: developing and implementing student
chain, carbon footprint measuring, green engineering product design
engagement programming, benchmarking, developing social media
and process development, environmental policy analysis, sustainable
content, liaising with student organizations, communicating with the
management, and climate justice that have never been formally brought
Steering Committee, and brainstorming future programming. We have
together. The lab will harness our resources and talent to be integrated,
been extremely impressed with their contributions and their willingness
leveraged, and made much more effective at addressing the issues of
to take initiative to provide value to the EIL beyond the tasks given to
climate change and sustainability.
them. In recognition of their enhanced role on the team, we decided to
Major Successes in 2020-21: During Fall 2020, the Environmental Integration Lab established a Steering Committee composed of 12 faculty
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
9
rename the positions “Student Fellows.” As for the virtual lab, initially
Major Successes in 2020-21: Since July 1, 2020, the QOL Dashboard
the virtual lab would be hosted through USD, but with the revamp of
has had a total of 9,387 unique website views with an average page
USD’s websites across campus, ITS has informed us that this is no longer
time of two minutes and 30 seconds. The QOL Dashboard was officially
possible. As an alternative location, we are developing ideas for the
released at The Nonprofit Institute’s annual State of Nonprofits and
virtual space and will seek additional funding to build and host the site
Philanthropy Summit on October 29, 2020, where there were 234
with web developers. We are currently completing our benchmarking (to
nonprofit professional attendees and four virtual workshops dedicated
be completed in Summer 2021) to give us a clear picture of sustainability
to various aspects of the new data including: Unveiling the 2020 QOL
centers and labs and their websites at peer institutions. We have also
Dashboard; Advancing Water Equity in San Diego Through City and
solicited input for a virtual space with our steering committee, although
Nonprofit Partnerships; Outdoor Access, Public Health, and Community
we could not develop a prototype this semester. In sum, we are creating
Resilience in the Age of COVID; and Exploring the Interconnections of
a clear vision for the virtual space with our steering committee and
Energy, Air Quality, and Wildfires in San Diego County. These sessions
from benchmarking activities. Our next step will seek estimates from
included panels with community members who engage with the QOL
three identified web developers, and we plan to seek additional funding
Dashboard through their work. Leaders 20/20 also highlighted the
internally from USD. In the meantime, we created an EIL Instagram to
QOL Dashboard at their annual holiday party, which hosted 58 young
ensure our community can stay informed about EIL activities, community
sustainability professionals. The dashboard was also distributed to our
engagement and events. Due to COVID, we had to rethink our options
6045 person listserv five times. We are currently working on the 2021 QOL
for programming and for the speaker series. Instead of hosting a single
Dashboard, which we will present at a multitude of community forums
speaker series, we are considering hosting smaller, more regular event
and meetings. This year’s outreach plan will focus heavily on gaining
series. Along these lines, we piloted an Earth Week Event Series in April
insight from various stakeholders on how they use the QOL Dashboard
2021 that consisted of three online events: Kahoot Night, Seeding Change
and their recommendations on how to make the QOL Dashboard more
film screening, and the Design Thinking Workshop. The Earth Week events
effective. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, original in-person events
provided a wonderful opportunity to introduce the EIL to the campus
were quickly adapted and modified to support the virtual environment
community, to provide space for students to engage with environmental
and the goal was still met. In addition to the 20% increase in USD student
issues in meaningful and practical ways, and to bring experts in
engagement at our virtual events this year, we have had active graduate
sustainable business enterprises to our community. Surveys taken after
students and recent graduates of the Leaders 20/20 (L20/20) Steering
each event reflect students’ desire for more opportunities to get involved
Committee, which drives all programming for the network. We now host a
with sustainability initiatives on campus.
bi-monthly workforce workshop series focused on interviewing, resume
Strategic Initiative: Equinox Project at USD Project Contact(s): Emily Young, PhD, Executive Director, The Nonprofit Institute Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 3: Improving Structural and Operational Effectiveness Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999 About: Through the Equinox Project initiative, we are seeking to more deeply engage faculty and students by providing opportunities for research in support of the Quality of Life (QOL) Dashboard’s data for the purpose of knowledge generation, as well as opportunities to connect
building, and elevator pitches. One student is the University of San Diego liaison and is part of L20/20’s initiative to create a leadership pipeline between sustainability-minded students and sustainability professionals in the region. Another student looked at the research interests of more than 100 faculty members across USD’s campus and analyzed where their research aligns with dashboard indicators to support future targeted engagement. This research is key to the project’s expansion across campus. Staff are currently working with faculty members from the School of Engineering to support the integration of data management utilizing the Water Use indicator page specifically into undergraduate data science courses for Summer and Fall 2021.
our students with the Leaders 20/20 young professionals network in
Strategic Initiative: Food Studies Initiative at USD
service of student learning, student success, and community impact.
Project Contact(s): Aaron Gross, PhD, Associate Professor, Department
By bolstering the Equinox Project with broader ties to USD faculty
of Theology and Religious Studies; Christopher Carter, PhD, Assistant
and students, we hope to elevate its profile as the leading source of
Professor, Assistant Chair, and Department Diversity Officer, Theology
community-wide data on critical issues to our region’s quality of life.
and Religious Studies; Nick Riggle, PhD, Assistant Professor, Philosophy Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
10 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999
collaborations but there are several that involve the FSI principals: a)
About: The Food Studies Initiative (FSI) seeks to execute a series of
the newly created FSI Curriculum Committee; b) a nascent collaboration
diverse campus meetings and events that will simultaneously: a) serve as a laboratory to better understand USD community values related to food; b) accelerate the creation of a permanent Food Studies Program; c) support related fundraising; and d) transform food at USD from an “auxiliary” part of campus life to a powerful vehicle both for expressing values and for enhancing USD’s educational mission. Major Successes in 2020-21: The FSI has seeks to increase sociallyengaged collaborative scholarship at USD. So far, we are very pleased with the diversity of faculty members involved both in terms of colleges and departments, but also gender, race, and stage in career. Faculty members from three colleges and 14 departments have been active in FSI events. Approximately 40% are women. While we did not formally poll faculty on racial identities, an informal analysis suggest that at least nine of 34 faculty and staff actively involved are people of color. We believe the gender and racial diversity of the faculty members interested in the FSI, especially the involvement of BIPOC faculty, is one of its greatest assets. We have not yet formally polled faculty to identify all new
between the School of Engineering’s Caroline Baillie and FSI principals Christopher Carter and Aaron Gross to design a core course for a new masters in engineering and sustainability; c) an evolving collaboration between the FSI and Urgent Challenges Collective; and d) a collaboration between FSI principals Aaron Gross and Christopher Carter to promote Dr. Carter’s forthcoming book that resulted in a book promotion grant for Dr. Carter. Drs. Gross and Carter worked collaboratively to identify outside sources of grant support and successfully applied for a $20,000 grant from the Greenbaum Foundation to support the promotion of Dr. Carter’s forthcoming book, The Spirit Soul Food. On another note, initial meetings were had between FSI principals and the head of auxiliary services, André Mallie, and they were promising. The FSI has identified the development of a “data dashboard” as the crucial next step in the relationship with auxiliary services. This data dashboard will be the basis for a wide range of other collaborations that could easily follow suit once this basic infrastructure is in place. As for programming, the FSI ran seven campus events that allowed faculty to discern and communicate values. This included a meeting in the fall and two major speaking events in the spring, each of which was followed by additional events that provided focused opportunities for discussion and a closing planning event. In addition to these formal venues, FSI principals held over a dozen informal meetings. Dr. Carter also collaborated with the local community group, The Vibe Movement, serving as a panel expert that talked about working with schools on food justice and how it intersects with racism. Overall, this year we have enjoyed broad faculty and staff support for the concept of making USD a “living laboratory” on food justice, secured the support of key individuals, and began outreach to both the campus community and auxiliary services. The transformation of campus into something that truly could be called a living laboratory is the telos of the FSI. We have made excellent progress toward this goal, but the real fruit will come after the creation of a minor. One of the most significant achievements of the FSI this year is the development of a coherent, interdisciplinary, and justice-oriented approach to creating a minor; and recruiting a dream team of nine faculty who will craft the actual minor and help lead it through the curricular approval process. This process has included the production, distribution, and discussion not only of vision statement available on our website, but documents that articled four pillars for a future minor and that addressed some of the complexities of balancing faculty interests in more humanities-centric approaches and more scientific approaches. To promote this work, we successfully developed a website featuring our vision statement, courses available to students, and interested faculty with bios.
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21 | 11
Strategic Initiative: National Fellowships Project Contact(s): Cassandra Gomez, Director of Pre-Health Advising Services Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 1: Enhancing Student Learning and Success Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999
Goldwater). We also created faculty committees for both Rhodes and Marshall to ensure continued work beyond the two-year funding period. To further reach out to students, we as an initiative engaged with the Honors Program and undergraduate research programs (including SURE, McNair, and Keck), and some of these students have committed to applying to fellowships next year. We also collaborated with the Mulvaney Center, Career Development Center, and the Changemaker Hub to
About: The purpose of the National Fellowships strategic initiative project
increase programming and advising. Next year, we will further our efforts
is to implement a faculty team approach to better support USD students
with more units across campus for even further collaboration. This year
in their applications to national fellowships (such as Rhodes, Goldwater,
we also became members of the National Association of Fellowship
Marshall, Truman, etc.).
Advisors, which provides best practices and resources on this type
Major Successes in 2020-21: This year, two faculty members and a
of work. In this first cycle, all Rhodes and Marshall student applicants
graduate assistant was identified and hired to support initiative efforts. Once the team was assembled, we worked closely with students who had expressed an interest in national fellowships in their USD
expressed appreciation for assistance with the process and positively reported the fellowships application process, in emails and verbally. The new website to detail our work and promote national fellowships to USD
application process and focused outreach on first year through third
students is expected to go live June 2021.
year students. To increase applicants next year, the team identified a group of rising juniors based on GPA and invited them to attend a
Strategic Initiative: The Mixtec Community Garden: Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing
National Fellowships Opportunity presentation in the fall semester. Those
Project Contact(s): Kevin Guerrieri, PhD, Professor of Spanish and
who expressed interest in fellowships met with a fellowships advisor to identify appropriate fellowships and were invited to a Fellowships Writing Workshop in the spring. Additionally, an intent form was created for students to help plan their fellowships timeline. Application support will
Director of Latin American Studies Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
be offered over the summer in preparation for fall fellowship deadlines
Monetary Award Category: a) less than $25,000
as we realize they are quite early (Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, and
About: This initiative is based on a collaboration with the Mixtec community in Linda Vista, San Diego. It is multi-faceted and seeks to focus on multiple aspects of the community: a community garden,
12 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
linguistic mapping and development, and the preservation of indigenous
build on the opportunity USD has to be a leader in the fight against
knowledge, medicinal usage, and traditional foods. All efforts are linked
human trafficking. Situated in a large, diverse, and border city, USD
to student learning at USD in multiple disciplines.
is a multidisciplinary university with a focus on Changemaking. This
Major Successes in 2020-21: This year, two additional boxes were built
perfectly positions the university to drive change in the fight against
to increase the production capacity of the garden. Given the constraints from the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not yet have clear empirical
human trafficking. The PAX Initiative seeks to facilitate communication and connections between the university’s various units to collaborate on
evidence that there was diversification of plants; however, the increased
innovative solutions to the urgent challenge of human trafficking.
capacity of the garden does suggest that this happened. Also this
Major Successes in 2020-21: This year, PAX evolved to include a
year, students in Professor Guerrieri’s SPAN 202-02 course worked on
Core Team and the PAX Collaborative. The Core Team coordinates
the transcriptions of audio recordings from previous interviews and
communication with community partners, facilitates projects, and
gatherings with community members. Some of these transcriptions
addresses administrative tasks associated with the initiative. The PAX
will be used in the book project next year. The book will include Mixtec
Collaborative is a larger body consisting of experts from across campus
stories and recipes that have been collected with all the text in tri-
and community partners; the purpose of the PAX Collaborative is to
lingual format (Mixtec, Spanish, and English). We also held three formal
create a network of experts that can: a) benefit from the expertise and
public events this year (via Zoom due to the pandemic) that were well
experience of other collaborative members; and b) help PAX to grow
attended. These international events had attendees from the local Jardín
by advising PAX about opportunities for collaboration, connecting the
Mixteco as well as community members from other regions of the United
initiative with networking and funding opportunities, and providing
States and Mexico. There were USD students and faculty members in
PAX with information about where and how the initiative can present
attendance from different courses, USD alumni, and colleagues from
information about its research, projects, and achievements. One
other universities. We also conducted two Tu’un Savi (Mixtec language)
project PAX worked on this year was the landscape analysis, the initial
courses, one course for beginners and the other for advanced students.
step needed to understand what work the campus was engaging in
The courses consisted of weekly two-hours classes from February
regarding human trafficking, and the analysis served as a foundation
to April taught by linguist and poet Celerina Patricia Sánchez. These
for the formation of the PAX Collaborative and the PAX website. The PAX
intergenerational classes included members from the Mixtec community,
website is a map of the anti-trafficking landscape at USD and it includes
colleagues from Access Community Center, USD community members,
information on the ongoing research, education, and advocacy efforts
and students from other institutions. Both courses went very well, and
at USD, as well as events happening not only at USD (the initial focus of
the advanced language course helped build community members skills in
the landscape analysis), but in the wider community. Going forward, PAX
Tu’un Savi for interpretation and other situations. We are now planning on
will use the map for gap analysis. PAX and Tablecloth (a data analytics
next steps for language development next year. We want to target certain
firm) are working to provide data collection
skill areas, and we need to carry out some community linguistic needs
assistance and tools to evaluate the
analysis. Curricular development and community engagement with the
anti-human trafficking work of PAX
Mixtec Community is an ongoing, long-term collaboration. The Envisioning
and the projects it facilitates.
2024 grant is providing us with key resources to deepen the learning and
Another important initiative from
enhance the collaboration in an equitable and mutually beneficial manner
this year was that PAX funded
with our community partners. Research and publications has also been
three projects, including a trauma-
an important component of the strategic initiative with multiple talks as
informed training curriculum, a
well as an essay submission to the Modern Language Association.
medical rotation curriculum, and the
Strategic Initiative: The PAX Initiative (USD Stopping Traffic Initiative)
HEART dashboard. PAX leaders are also
Project Contact(s): Melanie Delgado, JD, Staff Attorney at the Children’s Advocacy Institute; Ami Carpenter, PhD, Associate Professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation Monetary Award Category: d) $75,000 or more
currently working with partners to develop and write three grants. PAX was instrumental in bringing experts together for a panel to discuss misinformation about anti-trafficking efforts for a USD event, USD Conversations: The Impact of Misinformation on American Democracy, Past and Present, on October 9. PAX also worked with an undergraduate student to help her establish S.W.A.T. (Students Working Against Trafficking), a student organization focused on antitrafficking efforts.
About: The Partners Against eXploitation (PAX) Initiative seeks to
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
13
Strategic Initiative: USD Goal Toward an International/ Multicultural Experience for all Undergraduate Students Project Contact(s): Denise Dimon, PhD, Associate Provost for International Affairs, Professor of Economics, School of Business; Chris Nayve, JD, Associate Vice President for Community Engagement Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation Monetary Award Category: a) less than $25,000 About: Approximately 50% of USD graduates study abroad, compared to 10% nationally. USD consistently ranks in the top 10 universities nationwide for this statistic. In addition, approximately another 30% of USD students engage in multicultural experiences such as cross-border engagement or community engaged learning in the San Diego area. This initiative seeks to research why the remaining 20% of students do not study abroad or engage in a multicultural experience in the hopes of making this a graduation requirement for all undergraduate students. The project also seeks to identify additional opportunities for engagement. Major Successes in 2020-21: Thus far, the project has been able to determine the various sources of global and multicultural experiences available to USD’s undergraduate students so that a complete assessment can be designed to track participation. The next step will be to design focus groups and surveys to determine what barriers exist which might be limiting participation. After barriers for participation have been identified, then programs and policies can be developed for their removal.
2020-21: Cohort 5 New Strategic Initiative Awardees (projects that will receive funds for FY 2022 and FY 2023)
Strategic Initiative: Torero Gateway: Expanding Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities Project Contact: Stephen Pultz, MA, AVP Enrollment Management Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 1: Enhancing Student Learning and Success Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999 About: Equal access to educational opportunities (educational equity) remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the United States today. Right here in San Diego, there are significant disparities in educational opportunities across different neighborhoods. In poorer neighborhoods, where the majority of students are Black and Latino, limited access to college counseling, advanced placement courses, and other “college access skills” often result in a culture that does not “aspire” to higher education. This proposal seeks to leverage and enhance the relationships USD has been developing with community organizations (Ocean Discovery Institute, MANA Hermanitas, Reality Changers, Urban League Project Ready, Barrio Logan College Institute, Kearny High School-USD Upward Bound, High Tech High Elevate, etc.) to enroll 100 students from local high schools and community colleges each semester into USD’s dual enrollment program. The funding will offset the costs of application fees and tuition (which is currently only $75 per class), but more important, it will allow USD to provide textbooks and other class materials, and cover transportation costs that often are barriers for these students. Additionally, the initiative will develop a campus support network of faculty, current students, and staff who will guide and advise these students during their semester. The goal is to develop a program where students who participate in the Concurrent Enrollment program and attend USD eventually become mentors for students coming from the same organizations and local communities. This will have the added benefit of providing USD current students with leadership and mentoring opportunities. By expanding USD’s dual enrollment program to this level, the initiative hopes to begin seeing more local students consider USD for their college choice. In addition, USD will further advance its reputation as an anchor partner among local high schools.
Strategic Initiative: Advancing Educational Equity: Enhancing Retention and Graduation Rates for USD’s Black Undergraduate Students Project Contact: Ashley C. Barton, EdD, Director of the Black Student Resource Commons Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 2: Strengthening Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice
14 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999
Monetary Award Category: d) $75,000 or more
About: The initiative consists of four components that aim to advance the
About: Challenges connected to water are a result of injustices, ones
retention and graduation of Black undergraduate students at USD. Those
that intersect both social and environmental impacts. Water justice
four components are: a) the Black Summer Immersion Program, a) the
is embedded and specific to historic and socio-cultural contexts and
Black P.E.E.R. Mentor program, c) Continuous Onboarding Opportunities,
includes but transcends questions of distribution to include those of
and d) the Sequential Developmental Program. For the Black Summer
cultural recognition and political participation, and is intimately linked
Immersion program, the funding is used for meals, to hire a temporary
to the integrity of ecosystems. The San Diego region faces multifarious
residential student staff member, group engagement activities, and
critical and complex water justice issues, symptomatically manifested as
for a faculty stipend. The funding for the Black P.E.E.R. Mentor program
trash and sewage pollution in the Tijuana River watershed, wetlands that
is utilized to provide grants to mentors and provide book stipends to
need restoring and protecting, contamination necessitating remediation,
mentees. For the Continuous Onboarding program, funds are for programs
and a call to climate change readiness, to name a few. Additionally,
and initiatives aimed at supporting Black students’ transition into USD
historic inequities in San Diego’s zoning and planning laws have long
with a strong focus on their first semester; these include initiatives and
term public health implications, but also can exasperate challenges in
programs aimed at identity development, academic preparedness, and
the face of a changing climate. The initiative seeks to create and launch
community building. Finally, for the Sequential Development Program,
an inter-campus, inter-community synergistic exchange to advance
funds are used for day trips and retreats aimed at building a sense
our understanding of and innovative solutions to our critical local water
of belonging, further developing student confidence, and developing
justice challenges. The Water Justice Exchange (WJE) is designed to
constructive social support systems.
foster collaborative multidisciplinary research, student experiential
Strategic Initiative: Water Justice Exchange: Fostering Synergistic Research, Teaching, and Solutions for Local Water Challenges
learning, policy creation (advocacy), and community projects at the
Project Contact: Marissa Forbes, PhD, Research Associate, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 3: Improving Structural and
nexus of water, social, and environmental justice in the San Diego County and Tijuana region. Specific areas of focus include: water quality, water security, water reuse, water remediation, water justice, water policy, environmental resilience and climate change adaptation and mitigation related to the watersheds and coastal waters in the region.
Operational Effectiveness
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
15
Strategic Initiative: Committee and Implementation of College Diversity and Inclusion Mid-Career and Junior Faculty Service Awards
Monetary Award Category: d) $75,000 or more
Project Contact: Farrah Karapetian, PhD, Assistant Professor of Visual
and compensation to those currently performing work critical to the
Arts
About: This initiative seeks to create a Cross-Campus Racial Equity Advocates Program. The Advocates Program will increase equity university’s stated goal of strengthening diversity, inclusion, and social
Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff
justice across campus. The Advocates program is innovative because
Engagement
it for the first time explicitly recognizes and rewards Black, Indigenous,
Monetary Award Category: a) less than $25,000
and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty members and staff for the additional
About: The strategic initiative will create an awards committee to develop criteria, procedures, eligibility, and an application process for two antiracist service awards at USD (a Mid-Career Diversity Service Award and an Early-Career Diversity Service Award), as well as fund the first two years of the awards in three units across campus: the College of Arts and Sciences; the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering; and the School of Leadership and Education Sciences. The awards will recognize the labor dedicated to diversity mentoring work, as well as preventing and combating anti-Black racism and promoting racial consciousness on campus. Further, the funding will be used to support the expansion of these awards across all units of the university, demonstrating the value of a university-wide award.
labor they perform combating anti-Black racism and promoting racial consciousness on campus, and tangibly values the experience, expertise, and perspective that they bring to all corners of university life. The Advocates Program comes with monetary compensation as well as a title that can be recognized in rank, promotion, and tenure decisions and annual merit and performance evaluations. Such structures are rare in higher education today. Research on higher education demonstrates that many colleges and universities undervalue and overlook the labor that BIPOC faculty members, staff, and administrators do to foster diversity and inclusion in their campus cultures. For example, faculty of color are saddled with greater student mentoring demands, greater teaching demands for courses that tackle challenging racial content, as well as greater service demands (as many committees, panels, etc., seek to
Strategic Initiative: Cross-Campus Racial Equity Advocates Program
be racially diverse), all the while facing microaggressions in everyday
Project Contact: Lisa Nunn, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Director of
to their White counterparts. These demands drain BIPOC faculty
the Center for Educational Excellence
member’s time and energy, which makes them vulnerable to having
Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff
lower scholarly productivity, lower job satisfaction, and risk of burnout.
Engagement
16 | Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
campus interactions alongside lower student evaluations compared
This can negatively impact hiring and retention rates of BIPOC faculty
members as well. The initiative funds will be used to create a stipend for
American, and non-native-English speaking restaurateurs become
a team of seven Racial Equity Advocates and for funding of Advocates’
consumer packaged goods manufacturers. The initiative includes
programming initiatives.
four related components that center around food innovation: a)
Strategic Initiative: Developing a Mentoring Program for Supporting Success and Retention of a Diverse Faculty
create a program to support restaurants, b) use data from the State
Project Contact: Sandra Sgoutas-Emch, PhD, Professor of Psychological Sciences Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff Engagement
of Diverse San Diego Entrepreneurs survey to expand and promote small business directories (could be food and non-food innovation related, but with a focus on local entrepreneurs), c) offer case and relationship management by peers and advisors that represent the targeted communities along the journey of business growth and, where possible, the path to contracting with USD and partners to USD, and
Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999
d) access Native-language courses in lean start-up and other related
About: Faculty of color as well as women faculty face unique hurdles
topics. This proposal will increase our bridges to work in USD’s core
in the academy that reduce their likelihood of climbing the academic ladder/reaching tenure and promotion. Moreover, past interviews with faculty at USD at-large have reported feeling overwhelmed and unsure about how to successfully navigate the many aspects of their careers
anchor neighborhoods, further bridging our “town to gown” and anchor strategies with focused pathways to access. The anchor neighborhoods for focused outreach will be Linda Vista, City Heights and (bi-national) Tijuana, Mexico. Pending demand, we’d also like to do outreach to USD’s
including what courses to teach, how much research is enough, and
tribal partners via USD’s Tribal Communities liaison.
selecting appropriate service options. Although work has been done to
Strategic Initiative: Design Thinking Studio
help rectify this, studies have shown that quality mentoring experiences are important indicators of success and retention of faculty members. The initiative seeks to create a formalized mentoring program for faculty members. The proposed mentoring program is designed to provide resources and tools to support a diversity of faculty with an
Project Contact: Juan Carlos Rivas, PhD, Associate Director of the Changemaker Hub Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation
anti-racist perspective. The initiative includes training modules to help
Monetary Award Category: c) $50,000-$74,999
support and sustain a faculty mentoring program that can be designed
About: The COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter racial justice
and implemented across different academic units. Evidence-based
movement, and the ongoing economic recession have exacerbated the
practices as part of the mentoring program will include training programs
importance of these issues as we as a society come to terms with the
for mentors / protégés and chairs of departments, implementing
ways in which racial injustice impacts each of these challenges. Across
accountability measures, applying a developmental approach to address
campus, we have observed an increasing number of students who have
the changing needs across one’s career, and mentor mapping to match
become more aware of these urgent challenges and are activated to
needs with different types of mentors.
not only learn about these challenges, but to also engage with them.
Strategic Initiative: Anchor Entrepreneurship: Combining Inclusion, Diversity, and Food and Beverage Innovation for Our Common Home
Students have a desire to explore and identify solutions to the challenges
Project Contact: Rachel Lozano Castro, MPA, Director of the Small Business Development Center Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation Monetary Award Category: b) $25,000-$49,999 About: During the coronavirus pandemic, entrepreneurs, and in particular restaurant owners, have been hit harder than most industries due to thin operating margins, high labor costs, perishable inventory, and the toughest pandemic-related restrictions. This initiative seeks to
they learn about in their classes and through community immersion; however, many lack the skills and methodology to engage creatively, and explore, ideate, and co-create potential solutions in partnership with the community. The existing programs for student interaction and engagement with the community provide space for personal and classroom reflection, yet these spaces could be more impactful — for student learning and for our community partners — by incorporating design thinking. This initiative seeks to create a Design Thinking Studio at USD that will provide the space, tools, and methodologies to engage in creating institutional and local change concerning urgent global challenges by bringing together students, faculty, community partners, and organizations to collaborate in resourceful and innovative ways.
support vulnerable entrepreneurs, while creating experiential learning opportunities, care for our common home, and a transition from basic survival to wealth generating enterprises by helping female, new-
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
|
17
Strategic Planning Steering Committee Roster (For academic year 2020-21) Co-Chairs
Joi Spencer, PhD
Andrew T. Allen, PhD
Interim Dean and Professor, School of Leadership and Education
Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives,
Sciences and SGC2 Co-Chair
Professor of Economics
Mike Williams, PhD, JD
Rangapriya Kannan-Narasimhan, PhD
Director, Changemaker Hub and Professor, Political Science and
Founding Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer,
International Relations and SGC2 Co-Chair
Department Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, School of Business
Michel Boudrias, PhD
Members
Associate Professor, Environmental and Ocean Sciences and SGC3
Joey Abeyta President of the Associated Students Yasmine Kahlor Graduate Student Council Chair Julia Cantzler, PhD, JD Associate Professor, Sociology and Faculty Integration Coordinator, Advocate LLC University Senate Jane Georges, PhD Dean and Professor, Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences Kimberly Alessio President, University of San Diego Alumni Association Rick Olson, PhD Associate Dean and Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Member at Large Donald Godwin Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students and Member at Large Theresa Harris Director, Procurement and Member at Large James T. Harris III, DEd President, Ex Officio Member Neena Din, PhD Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences and Adjunct Faculty, Biology and SGC1 Co-Chair Michael Lovette-Colyer, PhD Assistant Vice President, Director of University Ministry and SGC1 Co-Chair Richard Miller Interim Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and SGC2 Co-Chair
18
|
Strategic Initiatives Annual Report 2020-21
Co-Chair Mark Peters, PhD Director for Mission, Mission and Ministry and SGC3 Co-Chair Janice Evelyn Director of Learning and Development, Human Resources and SGC4 Co-Chair Kristin Moran, PhD Associate Dean and Professor, Communication Studies and SGC4 Co-Chair Linda Dews, MSEd Assistant Dean, School of Leadership and Education Sciences and SGC5 Co-Chair Christopher Nayve, JD Associate Vice President for Community Engagement and Anchor Initiatives and SGC5 Co-Chair
Invited Guests Peter Marlow, MBA Associate Vice President, University Communications Elizabeth Giddens, PhD Director, Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives Paula Krist, PhD Director of Institutional Research and Planning Deborah Kelly, PhD Clinical Professor of Economics
Mission Why we are here
The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic institution committed to advancing academic excellence, expanding liberal and professional knowledge, creating a diverse and inclusive community, and preparing leaders who are dedicated to ethical conduct and compassionate service.
Vision
Where we want to be by 2024 The University of San Diego sets the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges.
Core Values
Values we will use to get from our Mission to our Vision The University of San Diego expresses its Catholic identity by witnessing and probing the Christian message as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church. The university promotes the intellectual exploration of religious faith, recruits persons and develops programs supporting the university’s mission, and cultivates an active faith community. It is committed to the dignity and fullest development of the whole person. The Catholic tradition of the university provides the foundation upon which the core values have been adopted to support the mission and continued vision.
Academic Excellence Knowledge Community Ethical Conduct Compassionate Service
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Andrew T. Allen, PhD, Vice President Elizabeth O. Giddens, PhD, Director 8/2021
